OPPRESSION AND IMPRISONMENT
These interviews document eyewitness accounts of arrests, beatings, imprisonment and forced work in labor camps after the Chinese invasion.
ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEWS
Select an interviewee from the list below or scroll down to browse the interview summaries and key topics. After each summary, a link is provided to the entire interview transcript.
All interviews are in PDF format. You will need Adobe Acrobat software installed on your computer in order to open these files.
1. Tsetin (#71)
2. Lobsang (#89)
3. Chonzom (#5)
4. Chonphel (#85)
5. Tenzin Chokdup (#90)
6. Gelong (#16)
7. Dickey (#68)
8. Lhakpa Tsering (#69)
9. Tenzin (#66)
10. Kalsang (#38)
11. Jamyang Samten (#41)
12. Nangpa Kyipa (#43)
© 2009 Tibet Oral History Project. These translations and transcripts are provided for individual research purposes only. For all other uses, including publication, reproduction and quotation beyond fair use, permission must be obtained in writing from: Tibet Oral History Project, P.O. Box 6464, Moraga, CA 94570-6464.
Tsetin’s father traveled often to China to trade goods and witnessed hardships imposed there by the Chinese government. When she was 12 years old, Chinese soldiers arrived in Tsetin’s village and at first they were “very loving” and even started schools for the children. Later, when many people were arrested, the entire community rose up in rebellion. Chinese airplanes bombed monasteries and bullets killed villagers as they tried to resist the invasion.
Many monasteries in Tsetin’s region were completely dismantled and turned into agricultural land. People were afraid of being captured and began to flee into the forest. Her parents were able to escape to India, but left Tsetin with relatives in Tibet. She and her relatives attempted to escape at a later time, but two relatives were killed by the Chinese. Tsetin was forced to return to her village and was later imprisoned for one month and beaten.
Tsetin describes the failure of the commune system implemented in 1973-74, which caused severe starvation among the people. When she learned around 1980 that her mother was still alive, she escaped to India and was reunited with her family.Topics Discussed:
Childhood memories, farm life, first appearance of Chinese, life under Chinese rule, resistance fighters, destruction of monasteries, imprisonment, forced labor, Chinese oppression, brutality, thamzin.
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Lobsang became a monk at the age of 5. His days were spent in the Phuntsoling Monastery, memorizing the scriptures and learning philosophical debate. As he studied, his knowledge of Buddhism increased, allowing him to join Sera Monastery in Lhasa. At age 33 he was sent back to his monastery in Phuntsoling to teach the monks how to debate.
While at Phuntsoling Monastery, Lobsang first encountered the Chinese, who were engaged in creating discord among the people by inciting the poor to turn against upper class villagers. Lobsang and many other monks were imprisoned and forced to labor under unbearable conditions. Lobsang was almost on his deathbed due to starvation when the Chinese released him after seven years. He was told to return to his village and work in isolation.
In 1969, Lobsang fled Tibet and continued to serve as a teacher at the Sera Monastery in Bylakuppe, India. He shares many views about the harm that Communism can do to the world and the belief that other nations should urge China to adopt democracy. Lobsang strongly advocates for a more powerful United Nations Organization so that the world can live in peace.
Topics Discussed:
Childhood memories, monastic life, first appearance of Chinese, life under Chinese rule, imprisonment, forced labor, brutality, thamzin, life as a refugee in India.Read Full Interview (PDF)
Chonzom’s family was Samadok, those who did pastoral farming. Samadok lived in houses built of stones and mud. There were no schools and Chonzom worked in the fields and also took animals to graze. At the age of 8 Chonzom was offered to the village nunnery as a form of tax. She performed various duties for the nunnery and at the age of 25 she became the accountant. She provides insight into how the nunnery functioned and how they supported themselves.
When the Chinese arrived in her village, Chonzom was arrested simply for being in charge of the nunnery. She was imprisoned, beaten, insulted and publicly humiliated. After release from prison she was sent to back to her village and as a punishment, she was made to kill rats and flies and report her killings to the Chinese.
Chonzom’s uncle urged her to marry another former prisoner and escape to India. She and her husband suffered terribly during their journey to India after they ran out of food. They had to hide during the day and travel only at night. Chonzom describes this as the most difficult phase of her life and believes she was near death by the time they reached India.
Topic Discussed:
Farm life, monastic life, first appearance of Chinese, life under Chinese rule, brutality/torture, thamzin, escape experience, life as a refugee in India.Read Full Interview (PDF)
Born in Gyangtse to a family of telpa ‘tax payers,’ Chonphel’s father was a genpo ‘village leader.’ His family was shung-wok, meaning they were tenants on government-owned land. Chonphel explains the various categories of tenants in Tibet depending on who owned the land: the monasteries, the government or private property owners. He also describes the ma-tel ‘butter tax,’ sha-tel ‘meat tax’ and wool tax, and how the taxes were paid to the correct authorities.
Chonphel was the first person from his village to be arrested by the Chinese under false accusations. Relating his miserable prison days, he describes the difficult labor of plowing fields and constructing buildings, while given very little food. Prisoners resorted to eating rats from the fields and leather. He suffered in this way for seven years.
After releasing Chonphel from prison, the Chinese sent him back to his village, where he was subjected to thamzin ‘struggle sessions’ because he had been a genpo. He worked as a laborer and married again because his first wife remarried while he was in prison. A year later he and his second wife fled to India.
Topics Discussed:
Taxes, imprisonment, forced labor, Chinese oppression, thamzin, escape experiences, life as a refugee in India.Read Full Interview (PDF)
Born in 1962, Tenzin Chokdup’s childhood was one of unimaginable suffering under the control of the Chinese. His family was labeled as ngadhak ‘those holding leadership positions’ by the Chinese, which made them targets for the worst abuse and degradations. He recounts the horrifying methods used during thamzin ‘struggle sessions’ when people were violently beaten and degraded by ex-servants who were “brain-washed” and intimidated by the Chinese.
Tenzin Chokdup’s mother died from torture while being subjected to thamzin and his two older brothers died of starvation after the death of their mother. From the age of 6 or 7 Tenzin Chokdup lived alone while his father was forced to work for the Chinese. With no one to care for him, he endured severe physical pain, extreme poverty, prolonged starvation, and forced labor. When his father died in 1985, Tenzin Chokdup decided to leave Tibet.
Tenzin Chokdup’s main goal in life was to become a monk, which became possible in India. He now lives at Sera Jey Monastery in Bylakuppe. His most cherished and unforgettable memory is his audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama after arriving in India.Topics Discussed:
Childhood memories, life under Chinese rule, forced labor, Chinese oppression, brutality, thamzin, escape experiences, life as a refugee in India.
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When he was a child in Tibet, Gelong’s family owned a huge herd of sheep and fierce dogs to guard them from wolves. Gelong had the difficult responsibility of grazing the animals in the mountains, often separated from his family for extended periods of time. He recalls the beautiful animals like lynx, gazelles and wild asses that used to roam in Tibet.
Once, as a young boy, when Gelong (originally named Namgyal Tenzin) grew sick, his family consulted a lhapa ‘medium.’ The lhapa believed Gelong to be a reincarnated lama and renamed him “Gelong,” a name typically reserved for high lamas. Then he recovered from the illness.
After the Chinese came to his village, Gelong’s family was subjected to the thamzin ‘struggle sessions’ initiated by the Chinese on Tibet’s wealthy families. Gelong relives those sad moments when the Chinese turned his family out of their house and confiscated their assets. He also talks about his experience of forced labor under Chinese rule; Gelong had to help build roads. When the work was completed he returned to his village, only to find that his family had fled to India. He soon he followed them and helped to build his settlement in India.
Topics Discussed:
Childhood memories, herding, life under Chinese rule, forced labor, Chinese oppression, thamzin, escape experiences, early life in Bylakuppe, life as a refugee in India.
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Dickey is from the village of Lhopra, which is located near a large lake where people traveled for pilgrimage. Her father passed away when she was young and the burden to raise four children fell on my mother. So at five years old, her mother “gave” Dickey to her uncle as an adopted daughter. She explains that adoption is an accepted practice among Tibetans, especially among siblings when one has many children and the other none.
Dickey describes her early life at her uncle’s home as a happy one. Then the family endured many hardships when her uncle was captured by the Chinese and labeled a rebel because he was wealthy. Dickey recounts horrifying memories of thamzin ‘struggle sessions’ in which Tibetans were beaten and tortured under the direction of the Chinese. She was also imprisoned.
Dickey was married at age 23, but became separated from her husband when he fled to India in 1959. Dickey was able to escape in 1960 after being released from prison. Although she searched for her husband after reaching India, she could not locate him. Finally, she received the sad news that her husband had died in Bhutan. To sum up her experiences Dickey says, “My whole life has been suffering and nothing else.”
Topics Discussed:
Childhood memories, nomadic life, life under Chinese rule, imprisonment, Chinese oppression, thamzin, escape experiences, life as a refugee in India.Read Full Interview (PDF)
Lhakpa Tsering’s family engaged in farming and transportation work in Domo. He talks about childhood memories, such as playing a game of bows and arrows with his friends, and transporting goods on mules between Phari and Kalimpong.
Lhakpa Tsering recalls the Chinese arrived in his village when he was 13 years old and then “everything was in chaos and they caused misery.” He describes the numerous hardships imposed on the Tibetan people, including the daily arrest of 15 to 20 people from his village without any specific reason. To avoid being arrested, he and other young men hid themselves in the hills for a week.
After the Dalai Lama left for India in 1959, the Chinese suspected that many Tibetans, such as Lhakpa Tsering, might flee and they began making more arrests. Lhakpa Tsering and his wife were kept in prison for six months and then released with a strict warning that “if you are caught [fleeing], you’ll never leave the prison.” He and four others escaped to India in 1960. He says, “Though life was difficult working as road construction workers, we were happy because there was no fear of being captured.”
Topics Discussed:
Childhood memories, farm life, religious festivals, trade/transporter, life under Chinese rule, Chinese oppression, imprisonment, escape experiences, life as a refugee in India.Read Full Interview (PDF)
In Tibet Tenzin lived in Gye village in the Gyantse district. His family owned a small farm and 40 or 50 animals. He is proud to say that he had a contended life and never faced any hardships while he was young.
When the Chinese came to his region, he and many others tried to escape in order to avoid pressure to send their children to China for education. Caught by the Chinese in his escape attempt, he was imprisoned and subjected to daily interrogation sessions and accused of organizing those who fled. After over 5 months in prison, he was released and soon he escaped and was able to reach Sikkim where he joined his family, who had fled there earlier.
Tenzin participated in the “Peace March” in India twice, first in 1972 and again in 1982, walking from Dharamsala to Delhi. He did so to express his sentiment against the Chinese government’s occupation of Tibet.
Topics Discussed:
Childhood memories, nomadic life, first appearance of Chinese, life under Chinese rule, imprisonment, forced labor, escape experiences, life as a refugee in India.
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Kalsang became a monk at the early age of 5 and lived at the monastery until he was 17 and forced to leave. In 1959 the Chinese closed the monastery and ordered the monks to return to their families.
Kalsang’s family, who were well-off, became targets of the Chinese. He and his family were tortured and humiliated in struggle sessions instigated by the Chinese. They were forced to state “that China was very good, that the Tibetan society was bad and that we were very happy under the Chinese government.”
Kalsang was required to work in the fields and all the harvests were taken by the Chinese, who gave the workers an insufficient grain ration that often left them hungry. Kalsang’s father was arrested and died after eight years in prison. Later Kalsang learned that he too would be arrested so he decided to flee. He was unsure of how to proceed and he hid for 18 months in a small space underneath a friend’s house, only emerging occasionally under the cover of darkness. Eventually his friends were able to find someone to show Kalsang the way to Bhutan.
Topics Discussed:
Monastic life, life under Chinese rule, forced labor, Chinese oppression, brutality/torture, thamzin, escape experiences, life as a refugee in India.Read Full Interview (PDF)
Jamyang Samten was born in a small village called Sarzo Gyalsa. Until the Chinese arrived in their village, he and his family led a contented life farming and tending their animals. Once the Chinese arrived, Jamyang Samten and others like him became paupers while the Chinese turned those who previously had been poor and beggars into the new village leaders.
Jamyang Samten and some of his friends rebelled and attempted unsuccessfully to remove the Chinese from their region. As a result of this incident, they were sent to perform hard labor. Jamyang Samten provides a vivid picture of the difficulties he faced in the labor camp, including “question-answer” sessions in which each worker would be forced to reveal faults of the others.
After his release from prison camp, fearing future arrests, Jamyang Samten and four of his friends fled to Lhasa. They visited holy places in Lhasa and received blessings from His Holiness the Penchen Lama. Jamyang Samten and his friends then escaped to Kalimpong, India in 1959, where they soon received news that Lhasa had been taken over by the Chinese. Jamyang Samten misses his country and his wife and family he left behind; his one wish is to die in Tibet.
Topics Discussed:
Childhood memories, farm life, wildlife, invasion by Chinese army, life under Chinese rule, resistant fighters, forced labor, Chinese oppression, escape experiences.Read Full Interview (PDF)
Nangpa Kyipa led a happy life in Tibet. Her family members were farmers and there was plenty of food to eat. With hundreds of cattle, they had enough butter and cheese to trade in nearby Bhutan for bags of rice.
Nangpa Kyipa recalls the Chinese telling the villagers that they would eradicate poverty by taking from the rich and giving it to the poor. She was told to give away half of her possessions. Her husband and brother were imprisoned by the Chinese. They were educated and the people from the village looked up to them so they were falsely accused of having ill-treated the villagers. Both were subjected to hard labor and many prisoners died from starvation. Nangpa Kyipa’s husband was fortunate enough to escape, but her brother remained imprisoned for years.
Nangpa Kyipa then recounts her early days in Bylakuppe, India, and how they built the settlement to its present status. About Tibet, she says, “I can see the snow capped mountains. It’s okay to even die on the mountain pass if I could see Tibet from there. My heart will feel that I am in Tibet.”
Topics Discussed:
Trade, life under Chinese rule, Chinese oppression, early life in Bylakuppe, life as a refugee in India.
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